Scouting report: Cincinnati Bearcats football starts Big 12 play vs. Houston at Nippert

With the Victory Bell safely back in the Richard E. Lindner Center trophy case, the Cincinnati Bearcats football program focuses on the Big 12 for the remaining nine games. That part of the equation didn’t work out so well last season as the Bearcats were just 1-8 in league play with the one victory coming on the road at Houston.

Those same Cougars come to town this weekend with a new coach as Willie Fritz moved slightly to the west from Tulane to Houston. Both schools were ranked at the bottom of the Big 12 by the media and feel they have something to prove.

“He’s been successful everywhere he’s been,” UC head coach Scott Satterfield said of Fritz. “His teams are always in the game. This team is one of the better defenses in the country, top 15 in a lot of categories.”

The Bearcats have trailed for just 17 seconds all season: the painful final seconds of the Pitt comeback. Otherwise, they would take a 3-0 record as some predicted into Saturday. In Oxford, kickoff specialist Nathan Hawks was promoted and became the first UC kicker to nail a pair of field goals from 50 yards or more in one game. Corey Kiner and Evan Pryor led the run game running for 202 of UC’s 215 rushing yards.

The Cincinnati Bearcats carried off the Victory Bell at Miami University. Now, they being their Big 12 season with a date at Nippert Stadium with Houston this Saturday.

Houston has lost to a pretty good UNLV team 27-7, played No. 15 Oklahoma tight losing 16-12 in Norman and just notched their first win over Rice 33-7.

Bearcats Nippert Stadium dominance must be re-established

In the past two seasons, UC’s Nippert Stadium wins have come in season openers against Eastern Kentucky and Towson. There were close, winnable games in 2023 that didn’t go their way and they outplayed a 3-0 Pitt team for three quarters. Seeing as the rule book still calls for…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/scouting-report-cincinnati-bearcats-football-003852155.html

Author : Cincinnati.com | The Enquirer

Publish date : 2024-09-19 00:38:52

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